[Bug 1892245] Re: Extension breaks when accessing Overview or applications list (Focal)

Wed Sep 9 17:33:43 UTC 2020

Thank you for the reply. Looks like you're making two separate arguments
for why a version bump from 31 to 38 is appropriate here, instead of a
cherry-pick of the fix:

1) "while that one-liner should be the fix, it has not been designed nor
tested to be used on top of version 31"

2) "As for the potential of regression, there is none in my opinion"

Let me take these one at a time.

> while that one-liner should be the fix, it has not been designed nor
tested to be used on top of version 31

This argument also applies generally to Ubuntu SRU policy, which is
specifically to favour cherry-picks over taking more unrelated changes
from a newer upstream release. The majority of stable release updates in
Ubuntu cherry-pick from upstream exactly like this, and these fixes are
rarely designed nor tested by upstream on the base on which Ubuntu
applies them. Our cherry-picking favouring policy is documented at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates. Ubuntu as a project has
made a policy choice here, and you've given no other reason for an
exception in this case except that you disagree with Ubuntu's policy.
You're entitled to your opinion of course, and you're welcome to
petition for Ubuntu to change its policy. However in the absence of an
explanation why the policy is as an exception inappropriate to this
case, I think it's appropriate to follow the policy until (and if) it is
changed. Otherwise there would be no point in having a policy.

> As for the potential of regression, there is none in my opinion, as
the current version of the package breaks the interaction so badly that
it becomes completely unusable, so this change can only be an
improvement on that side.

Nobody proposes a change that is known to carry a regression, of course.
The challenge with assessing regression risk is to think about what we
don't know. Here are two cases where regression risk lies that I don't
think you've considered:

1) Users who take updates from focal-security but not focal-updates. My
understanding is that these users are not currently regressed as they
are still using the release versions of gnome-shell and gnome-shell-
extension-dash-to-panel. If we accept your version bump and there's
subsequently a security update required to gnome-shell-extension-dash-
to-panel, then these users would be exposed to any regressions that
might exist in moving from a working 31 to 38. So the idea that there is
no possible regression because it's already too broken doesn't apply in
this case - because it's not already too broken for these users.

2) Changes in one package can affect others, especially if there are
bugs. It's not safe to assume that changing this package cannot possibly
regress other behaviour without investigating more deeply.

My conclusion remains that it is appropriate to cherry-pick the fix in line with Ubuntu SRU policy, and I haven't seen any reason to deviate from this policy in this particular case.

You (or anybody else who wants to volunteer) now has three choices:

1) Prepare an minimal upload that fixes this bug, as appears to be
easily technically possible.

2) Present reasons why the usual policy to cherry-pick is not
appropriate in this particular case. A general disagreement with Ubuntu
SRU policy is not sufficient.

3) Get Ubuntu SRU policy changed and then revisit this when that is
done.

I appreciate the work you're doing in making Ubuntu better here and I'm
sorry this is no doubt proving painful for you. I hope you can
appreciate that this is only because you're asking to deviate from our
established policy. If you can prepare a *minimal* upload that just
fixes the bug you need fixed, we'll gratefully accept it.

** Tags removed: regression-release
** Tags added: regression-update

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1892245

Title:
  Extension breaks when accessing Overview or applications list (Focal)

Status in Gnome Shell Extension Dash To Panel:
  Fix Released
Status in gnome-shell-extension-dash-to-panel package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in gnome-shell-extension-dash-to-panel source package in Focal:
  In Progress

Bug description:
  SRU

  [Impact]

  This bug is quite disruptive, in fact, if this extension is installed
  and active, it renders gnome-shell almost unusable. Anytime you open
  gnome-shell's overview (using the super/win-key) or you just press on
  the "Show Applications" button on the panel, instead of opening the
  overlay correctly something weird happens and you cannot close it back
  in any way. The only workaround I found is to press Alt+F2 and press R
  to restart the shell (using Xorg).

  This package used to work until a recent gnome-shell update to 3.36.5
  as part of 20.04.1, which changed some API related to setting
  geometries (https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-
  shell/-/merge_requests/1119). Probably nobody tested gnome-shell with
  this extension, I'm not sure about the QA procedure.

  This package is clearly broken in its current status, so I suggest
  backporting the latest version from groovy (38-2), which has an update
  that fixes the issue. I'm using it for three days now and it works
  perfectly like it used to do before this bug arose.

  The fix is likely this one-liner https://github.com/home-sweet-gnome
  /dash-to-panel/commit/ed00ae61ba5c81ceec6e5bb9f04afa8272fac13a which
  checks for the available API instead of checking the package version.

  [Test Case]

  What happens?

  1. Install this package, and enable it (e.g. from the Extensions app) if it's not already enabled upon install.
  2. With this extension enabled, try to open the overview (e.g. by pressing the super button).
  3. The overview appears corrupted, from now on it's no longer possible to close it and the windows are stuck in their position.

  A screencast of the bug is available in comment #2
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell-extension-dash-
  to-panel/+bug/1892245/comments/2

  What should happen instead?
  At step 3 the overview to work normally and be able to switch applications as usual

  [Regression Potential]

  As the bug the current version is very disruptive, breaking entirely
  the use of the shell, the risk of regression is extremely low. It may
  introduce instabilities to gnome-shell which have not been discovered
  yet. I'm personally using the groovy 38-2 version for 3 days on my
  main device and I didn't detect any problematic behaviour.

  [Other Info]

  An alternative could be to cherry-pick the single fixing commit, but I
  did not test it, nor have been tested by upstream, hence I suggest to
  directly backport version 38-2 from groovy.

  --- Original Description ---

  Since the last boot, few minutes ago, anytime I open the gnome-shell's
  overview (using the super/win-key) or I just press on the "Show
  Applications" button on the panel, instead of opening the overlay
  correctly something weird happens and I cannot close it back in any
  way. The only workaround I found is to press Alt+F2 and press R to
  restart the shell (using Xorg).

  If I disable the extension, everything works correctly, so I think it
  to be culprit.

  What happens when I try to get the overlay and it gets stuck? You can
  see the attached screenshot. Note the name of the window on the top
  right, it appears as soon as I trigger the overview, like if the
  overlay was open but the window was not getting resized. If I try to
  drag the window, an animation shows like if the overview was correctly
  working, but nothing works.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
  Package: gnome-shell-extension-dash-to-panel 31-1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-42.46-generic 5.4.44
  Uname: Linux 5.4.0-42-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.6
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
  CurrentDesktop: GNOME
  Date: Wed Aug 19 23:01:35 2020
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-04-03 (137 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Beta amd64 (20200401)
  PackageArchitecture: all
  SourcePackage: gnome-shell-extension-dash-to-panel
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
  mtime.conffile..etc.apport.crashdb.conf: 2020-05-04T10:26:46.106768

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